This reminds me of a discussion I had about the hubbub surrounding Kathy Griffin’s remarks after she won her Emmy. (You can google it, but basically, she said that although a lot of people thank Jesus, he had nothing to do with her award, and concluded by saying, “Suck it, Jesus!”)

Backlash was swift, and I tried to figure out why her joke didn’t bother me (I found it very funny, in fact). It would bother me if an entertainer had said, “Suck it, Jews!” or “Suck it, South Asians!”–although I personally fit into neither category.

What I reasoned was that, while it is perfectly acceptable/reasonable/fair to criticize someone for a choice they’ve made, it’s unacceptabe/unreasonable/unfair to criticize someone for something inherent or which is outside their control. Mockery is just an extreme form of criticism, and criticism is important to society and _should_ be as free and unfettered as possible. So, while cheerleader jokes or debater jokes or mechanic jokes are fair game, jokes about someone’s race or ancestry are not.

Griffin’s joke may have “felt” unfair, but she was really making fun of the _object_ of worship, not the people who worship. (If you want to pick a nit, she was really satirizing other acceptance speeches, where thanking Jesus has become a cliche.)

People who dress as a particular god are being reasonable and fair, in my opinion, even if they’re mocking that god…in fact, I’d almost suggest that it’s _more_ appropriate if they’re clearly mocking that god, because then their purpose is more apparent. (Of course, I also theorize that in a perfect world, we’ll all be equal, and everyone will be able to make fun of everyone else at any time. I think a sense of humor is a shade more important for society than a sense of respect.)

I’d be curious to read your blog post on the difference between appreciation and appropriation.

The very idea of a costume suggests being able to dress as something else, an Other than you can participate in for one night.

That’s a very good point. (It also makes me wonder what that says about me, since — unless I’m dressing up specifically as a character — my “costumes” come from my wardrobe, with some props like wigs and wands and stuff thrown in…)

It frustrates me to see people, usually white folk, dressed as Hindu Gods and Goddesses, or in North Indian clothes for Halloween. There is an entire cultural context that is being degraded down to a “costume” – these are religions and cultures of entire communities.

That actually makes me think about how some Jewish people might feel about a Christian dressing up as, say, Moses, for Halloween. Personally, I’d think it was great, but then again I’m an atheist Jew so I’m coming from a different perspective than a religious one would be.

Of course, there’s also the issue of cosplay. What happens when the costume is not of the actual god/goddess, but of the god/goddess as they appear in a fictional story? If it’s clear cosplay, would that make it more, less, or just as offensive? Which, of course, leads to the question of whether or not the use of the religious figures in fiction to be a form of cultural appropriation/degradation of a culture/religion…

I meet a lot of white folk who tell me the reason they love Indian culture is because “they don’t have one”.

That is so wrong on so many different levels… ._.

Thanks for continuing the discussion here tekanji, it’s been good to see what other people had to say about it.

Since culture and race are two separate categories, is it possible to be racist by being culturally sensitive?

For example, if I think to myself, “I will not wear a kimono for Halloween because I am not Asian,” am I not also saying, “Only Asians have the right to wear kimonos?” My race should limit me in a way that theirs does not?

If I tell my son, “I don’t want you wearing a giant Flava-Flav watch around your neck, because I don’t want people to think you’re being insensitive,” isn’t the subtext: “Such a watch is a black-person-thing, and only black people can wear black-person-things?”

For me, I still question whether a similar costume worn in the US can ever be done safely. But I also think that maybe the bigger picture is that Halloween is simply not the right venue in which to attempt to educate people about other countries’ and cultures’ historical figures. For people who insist that they’re doing it in an attempt to educate, I would completely scoff at that. How about doing that on the other 364 days of the (non-leap) year? Realistically, there isn’t going to be a hell of alot of dialogue at your typical Halloween celebration, and it seems a bit disingenuous to claim otherwise. (To be clear, I am answering the question you posed – *not* accusing you of doing so!)

I guess what I’m trying to say is that it smacks of that exception mentality that I often come across in interactions with white liberals, that “I totally get what you’re saying, and I really feel you. Now I’m going to do exactly the thing that you’re complaining about, but because I’m doing it with *knowledge* and my magical not-racist necklace that I wear, it’s ok.”

Oh I hate that. I get that kind of crap all the time with men who think it’s okay for them to use words like “bitch” and “slut” even after I expressly say, “First off, those words are really sexist, don’t use them. Second off, especially don’t use them around me because they are triggering of the one and a half years of verbal abuse that I got from my first boyfriend.” They use the “agree to disagree” line and that’s pretty much the beginning of the end of the friendship.

I guess the line I was trying to feel out is not that “knowledge about a culture makes it okay to be racist” but rather is there a time in which the potential to inform and educate people about the realities of a culture via being able to start dialogues through a (non-stereotyped, properly researched and executed) costume could put it into the “respectful use” category rather than the “racist appropriation” category.

Also, just to mention but, in the example you cited it’s not like much could have been done about the costume at that moment, but at the very least there should have been an, “Oh, geez, I’m sorry. I didn’t think about how this could be racist. I’ll make an effort to be more mindful of this in the future.” in there. When you have to defend an accusation of racism with, “No, it’s not racist” (especially to someone who is the target of said racism) then you are in the wrong, period. I wish more people could get that. ._.

I definitely see your point about group dynamics, so I’m interested to see what you think about this scenario:

I live in China, and the options here are mostly non-white. I once went as Song Qingling, copying her conserviative qipao worn with a cardigan and sensible shoes, and my (Chinese) boyfriend went as Sun Yat-sen. That same year, another white friend of ours dressed as a Shanghai traffic guard, with the uniform and flag and hairy mole and thick Jiang Zemin glasses. It was spot on, but was also mocking a person type/occupation enough to be.

My thinking around it is, “Sure, YOU’RE not seeing it as racist or culturally appropriating. Your motives are pure and you’ve done your homework, as much as that makes a difference. But we’re living in white supremacist America here, and other people are looking at you through that lens. Whatever your motives, what you’re doing is almost certainly playing right back into that racist reality and creating an environment where people think it’s ok on other, more f-ed up levels.”

If this person was, say, at a private Halloween party filled with friends who were completely in the know, maybe I’d be less inclined to have a bad reaction. But generally, I’m not really a fan of the idea. Then again, I’m not a fan of Halloween anyway, because of the free-for-all racism…

I had kind of a throw-down with some friends a couple of days ago. One of them, a black woman, has decided to be a sexy “geisha” for Halloween. Me being me (namely Asian), I called her out on that and told her it was racist. Our other friend, who’s white, came to her defense. I don’t think seither of them are hearing me, though.